B. F. Skinner

“Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.”

“The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.”

“A failure is not always a mistake, it may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying.”

“We shouldn't teach great books; we should teach a love of reading.”

“The consequences of an act affect the probability of its occurring again.”

“Give me a child and I'll shape him into anything.”

“The way positive reinforcement is carried out is more important than the amount.”

“A person who has been punished is not thereby simply less inclined to behave in a given way; at best, he learns how to avoid punishment.”

“Science is a willingness to accept facts even when they are opposed to wishes.”

“We are all controlled by the world in which we live, and part of that world has been and will be constructed by men. The question is this: are we to be controlled by accident, by tyrants, or by ourselves in effective cultural design?”

“If you're old, don't try to change yourself, change your environment.”

“What is love except another name for the use of positive reinforcement?”

“The strengthening of behavior which results from reinforcement is appropriately called 'conditioning'.”

“Society attacks early, when the individual is helpless.”

“It is a surprising fact that those who object most violently to the manipulation of behavior nevertheless make the most vigorous effort to manipulate minds.”

“I did not direct my life. I didn't design it. I never made decisions. Things always came up and made them for me. That's what life is.”